Trevor Noah on Donald Trump pardoning his 'racist friend' Joe Arpaio

On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Trevor Noah took a few swings at Donald Trump for pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, who is a strong opponent of illegal immigration. Noah said, “You know, for a guy who’s ‘not racist,’ Donald Trump sure has a lot of racist friends. He’s like the straight guy at the gym that all the gay guys hit on. Maybe they know something you don’t.”

Arpaio reportedly has racked up laundry list of inhumane practices as sheriff. It has been reported by the Phoenix New Times that he forced prisoners to live in canvas tents in triple-digit temperatures, and was quoted as saying, “I already have a concentration camp. It’s called Tent City.” He reportedly had a woman who was in labor shackled to her bed, and allowed the aggressive use of stun guns and overcrowding in his prisons, where prisoners died at an alarming rate without explanation. One of his jailers nearly broke the neck of one of the inmates there — a paraplegic man who asked for a catheter.

Because of some of these practices, Arpaio’s tenure has cost his office $142 million in legal fees, which includes dealing with two wrongful death lawsuits. Noah said, “Think about all the other things that that money could have bought. Schools, or roads — or they could have just paid Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather to punch Arpaio in the face.”

But that’s not why Arpaio needed a pardon. Arpaio was found guilty of defying a 2011 court order that barred his officers from stopping and detaining Latino motorists to check their immigration status, not because of traffic violations.

With Arpaio facing at most six months in jail for his crimes, Noah felt Trump’s pardon was a waste. “Hell, even if my mom asked me to pardon her for six months, I would be like, ‘Yo, mom, you know I love you, but it’s six months,” he said. “Here’s a carton of Camels and a burner phone — I’ll see you in the spring.’”